Morphometric analysis of modern faeces as a tool to identify artiodactyls' coprolites

dc.creatorTaglioretti, Verónica
dc.creatorSardella, Norma Haydee
dc.creatorFugassa, Martín Horacio
dc.date2014-11
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/35114
dc.identifierTaglioretti, Verónica; Sardella, Norma Haydee; Fugassa, Martín Horacio; Morphometric analysis of modern faeces as a tool to identify artiodactyls' coprolites; Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd; Quaternary International; 352; 11-2014; 64-67
dc.identifier1040-6182
dc.identifierCONICET Digital
dc.identifierCONICET
dc.descriptionThe identification of the zoological origin of coprolites is important to infer paleoecological characteristics of ancient wildlife. The aim of this study was to design a reliable tool to distinguish coprolites of artiodactyls collected from archaeological sites of Patagonia, Argentina. A reference collection of modern droppings of large size artiodactyls of Patagonia, Lama guanicoe (guanaco) and Hippocamelus bisulcus (huemul), was also studied. Generalized discriminant analysis using shape and size attributes was applied to 538 pellets (nguanaco = 240, nhuemul = 298). Faecal material was photographed and multiple predictor variables were calculated by the Image J (Java 1.6.0_12) Program. Coprolites attributable to camelids by paleoparasitological analyses were also classified by the discriminant classification function obtained from the reference collection. Results indicated that pellet size and shape were able to discriminate droppings of guanaco from those of huemul (Pillai's trace = 0.93, p = 0.0001). The accuracy of the classification function was 100%, with all the modern faeces of guanaco and huemul correctly classified. The accuracy for the identification of camelid coprolites was 100%. This is the first study that used a discriminant classification function of modern dung to identify coprolites. This research also provides information for its potential application to other archaeological deposits of dung in order to confirm the zoological origin of samples.
dc.descriptionFil: Taglioretti, Verónica. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina
dc.descriptionFil: Sardella, Norma Haydee. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina
dc.descriptionFil: Fugassa, Martín Horacio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina
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dc.languageeng
dc.publisherPergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
dc.relationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.12.055
dc.relationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618213009890
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rightshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.subjectCoprolite
dc.subjectIdentification
dc.subjectArtiodactyls
dc.subjectPatagonia
dc.subjecthttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
dc.subjecthttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
dc.titleMorphometric analysis of modern faeces as a tool to identify artiodactyls' coprolites
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.typeinfo:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion


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